Fancy Feathers

The cherries are defeated for this year. When all was said and done, I had 8 half-pints of Black Forest Preserves, 4 pints of Sweet Cherry Balsamic Jam, 7 half-pints of Sweet Cherry Lime Jam, 6 half-pints of Chocolate Cherry Preserves, and 10 pints of Cherries in Syrup. That ought to keep us in cherries for a while. I'm already calling on family, friends, and neighbors to take some of them off our hands. Everyone has to do their part.

Since I knew I would have plenty of time to finish with the cherries yesterday, I decided to do some sewing first. As I've mentioned, I wanted to try doing a fancy feather in the border of the bird quilt in the way Patsy Thompson did hers on her book cover.

So let's just deconstruct this, shall we? She's done a traditional feather, and then added two hooks in the center of the loop, then outlined the outer portion twice. Not so scary.

So my goal for the morning was (a) to see if I had even a snowball's chance of replicating her feather, and (b) to test thread colors.

I started the traditional feather with a pretty turquoise thread from my collection, but it was too hard to see, and so I discarded that one straight away. Then, I switched to the bright yellow to see how that worked for the hooks. That looks pretty good. Also, I had to decide how to shape the hooks.

I had an idea that the mint green thread would work better for the traditional feather, and so I outlined what I'd done so far with that. And I like that better than the turquoise.

So then, I wanted to see how the maroon thread would look as the outer thread on the outline. And that looks pretty good to me. You can see it at the bottom.

I was getting a lot of help. He made sure I didn't move the fabric too quickly...or at all...

Excuse me...your cherries are waiting...and while you're at it, purrhaps you could attend to my treat bowl.

Once I had the cat removed from the quilt, I started another row of feathers, using the mint green thread this time. That shows better.

And then I wanted to see how the bright green would show, and also, if it was different enough from the mint green. I was already settled on the yellow for the hooks, but this gave me a chance to practice them some more, and also to practice outlining the feathers.

Finally, I added the maroon to the outside, and switched back to the yellow for the hooks.

I was satisfied with that color combo and decided to go ahead with it. Even the back was looking pretty good.

So here are my colors from left to right in order of usage.

And I decided to switch the bobbin thread as well. Despite anything I said a few days ago, I'll never use monofilament thread in the bobbin again. I still think there is a place for monofilament in quilting. I was using it because I had a lot of contrast in color in the quilt back and the top background. I didn't want dark thread pulling through to the top. What I got instead was constant breakage of the bobbin thread, and I also got white thread pulling through to the back.

If I get an idea to use monofilament thread again, I'll keep it on the quilt top where I can see what's going on and save the cotton thread for the bottom. This is my sworn testimony. Remind me if I ever take leave of my senses in the future.

So with the thread colors chosen, I started just the beginning of the traditional feather and then went to finish up the canning.

On yesterday's agenda were 6 half-pints of Chocolate Cherry Preserves. These are the ones from the Pomona's Pectin website, and they include cinnamon and cayenne. We had this over vanilla ice cream last night, and it was delicious. Also, I'm impressed with the Pomona's Pectin. I like the "set" better than what I got with liquid pectin. It's more spreadable and it allows for less sugar.

Comparing the recipe for this and for the Black Forest Preserves, I think I could make the Black Forest Preserves (the ones with amaretto) in the same way since the recipes are very similar and contain the same amount of acid. I'll keep that on tap for 2019, assuming we get some cherries in 2019.

Finally, as I mentioned, I still had 6 more pounds of cherries from the grocery store. I used those to make 7 pints more of the Cherries in Syrup. These are delicious...and stupidly simple to make. I told you how to do them in a previous blog post.

Thus ends cherry canning season 2018. Canning is a lot of work, but very gratifying. Gratification aside, I was very glad to be pulling the last jar from the canner yesterday. Three days of canning is a lot of standing and stirring.

After some lunch and a short nap, I got back to work on the quilt...for real this time...and started stitching the feathers. I have the first two colors finished now.

And lookie there...I even turned that corner! Mine isn't as pretty and tidy as Patsy Thompson's, but everyone has to start somewhere.

First thing today, I'll get to work outlining the outer edge of the feathers, and the quilting will be finished. There should be plenty of time to get the binding sewn on by machine. And with several days left in the month, I think July's OMG will be finished on time.

Also on today's agenda, I'm still trying to catch up on last week's housework. Being sick for a week wreaks havoc with one's scheduling. It's also a watering day, so I'll get out and do that while it's still cool. We're under a heat advisory for another day, and we're on an air quality advisory as well. It seems a good day to stay inside and sew...good advice any time.